


i know you know that i'm not telling the truth

by gingerslapNotion



Series: ShiHou Month [5]
Category: Kill la Kill (Anime & Manga)
Genre: E4 being dorks together ;u;, Feelings Realization, Implied Jakuzure Nonon/Kiryuin Satsuki, Love Confessions, M/M, Minor Mankanshoku Mako/Matoi Ryuko, Tailor's Regalia, also hakodate/fukuroda, also the two gardening club presidents are gay becus i said so, nerds who are smart but also stupid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:26:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26979550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gingerslapNotion/pseuds/gingerslapNotion
Summary: “Back to work. Toodles.”With the chatter of their friends cut off, Iori and Inumuta slipped back into the positions they had grown so used to: working together, side-by-side, amicably silent save for the familiar rhythms of Iori’s sewing machine and Inumuta’s keyboard. Though, this was different from their usual cacophony - rather than a single Singer, there were now four of them, whirring away at lightning speed, each one adding its own tempo to the din and creating something new and unknown. In other words, it was an itch that Inumuta couldn’t help but scratch at.
Relationships: Inumuta Houka/Iori Shirou
Series: ShiHou Month [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1272086
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	i know you know that i'm not telling the truth

**Author's Note:**

> working title: iori swooning: the fic
> 
> HAPPY SHIHOU MONTH 2020 i hope yall are uhhhhhhhhhhhh surviving  
> this was based on a conversation i had with zoe several years ago which itself was based on a tweet from the shihoubot LMFAO  
> theres no reason for the title to be a refrance to Psych i just think its funney (:

“Back to work. Toodles.”

With the chatter of their friends cut off, Iori and Inumuta slipped back into the positions they had grown so used to: working together, side-by-side, amicably silent save for the familiar rhythms of Iori’s sewing machine and Inumuta’s keyboard. Though, this was different from their usual cacophony - rather than a single Singer, there were now four of them, whirring away at lightning speed, each one adding its own tempo to the din and creating something new and unknown. In other words, it was an itch that Inumuta couldn’t help but scratch at.

“Say, Iori?” Inumuta spoke up, careful to not allow his typing to slow as he began his little investigation. “Can I ask you something?”

“Inumuta, I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but I happen to be a bit busy at the moment.” Iori replied, sounding wholly calm and unstrained in the slightest.

“Oh, it’s just a small query, won’t take but a moment,” Inumuta said in his usual unaffected manner.

“Fine, what is it?”

“I was merely curious just how long you’d had a three-star uniform.”

“I’ve had mine as long as you’ve had yours. But you already knew that, didn’t you?”

A pause.

“Well, I’ve had my suspicions, yes.”

“I’m surprised at you, Inumuta,” Was that a smile he heard in Iori’s voice? That was quite unusual indeed. How very interesting. “Why wait this long to confirm your hunch? It’s so unlike you.”

“Well, to tell you the truth, I was far more intrigued by your secret-keeping than by the secret itself. I wanted to see how long you would hold out on us.” Inumuta observed that his cheeks had grown warm at this admission, and he couldn’t help but feel betrayed by his own body. Luckily for him, Iori was facing away from him as they worked.

“‘Us?’” Iori repeated.

“The other Elites and I.”

“Oh, the other three have known for a while now.”

“ _ What!? _ ” Inumuta blurted out before he could compose himself. He whirled around to look at Iori - though his mouth was hidden by the opaque mask of his Tailor’s Regalia, Inumuta could see the way Iori’s eyes crinkled behind the translucent green visor. 

“Nonon asked me about it the same day I fitted you all for your uniforms. Gamagoori was concerned for my safety during the week of the Naturals Election, and Sanageyama wanted to know what, if any, fighting capabilities my uniform afforded me.”

“Why not me, then?” Inumuta questioned, trying and failing to keep the bewilderment out of his voice. “Surely you must have had a good reason not to share such valuable information with the Information and Strategy Chair.”

Iori turned his head to look at Inumuta, and Inumuta felt his face grow even warmer.

“It’s simple, Houka - you’re cute and I felt like messing with you.”

“C-cute!?” Inumuta spluttered. His typing had ceased entirely at this point as he tried to process what he was hearing, and he was sure Iori could see how red his face had become even despite his high collar.

“I have quite an eye for detail, you know,” Iori continued non sequiturly, looking back at his work. “It’s what makes me a good tailor - noticing little things others don’t. All those times you were watching me, trying to figure out where I’d hidden the third star? Waiting until the last moment to save me from a tough spot, hoping I would transform? You were not being as subtle as you thought.”

“I- I-” Inumuta was entirely at a loss for words, for possibly the first time in his life. Even the tips of his ears and the back of his neck felt like they were on fire now, and his collar only made it worse by holding his warm breath against his face. He hadn’t seen this coming.  _ How  _ had he not seen this coming?

“I didn’t mind though. It was kind of nice, actually, to be paid so much attention. I was always supposed to be the ace up Lady Satsuki’s sleeve, to blend in, hide in plain sight and strike when the time was right. So knowing I was the object of someone’s interest, that someone had his eyes on  _ me _ …” he trailed off, and Inumuta finally found his voice again.

“You outsmarted me. Me! How did I never realize you knew that I knew?” He said incredulously.

“Houka, please. You may be the smartest student at Honnouji, but even you have a blind spot.”

“Enlighten me then, please!”

Iori raised a single white gloved hand to point at Inumuta’s bare chest.

“Your feelings for me.”

“I don’t-”

“Oh Houka, denial is so unbecoming of you.” Iori interrupted his protest immediately, splaying his hand across Inumuta’s skin, feeling his already-rapid heartbeat grow even faster. “‘Intrigued by my secret-keeping’? That’s just your mind struggling to rationalize your interest in me. You do so much thinking that you believe your feelings to be more of the same.”

Iori had him up against his desk now, the mechanical arms of his uniform trapping Inumuta in place. He lifts his hand off Inumuta’s chest to unzip his collar and caress his face, still very red.

“Well? What do you have to say?”

After what felt like an eternity to both of them, Inumuta finally spoke.

“I think-”

“Don’t think.”

“-I would like to kiss you.”

“Then do it!”

“But your mask…”

“...Ah.” 

And suddenly the whole ship shook violently, causing them both to lose their balance momentarily and bringing them back to the dire situation at hand.

“Shit, it’s getting bad out there…” Inumuta said, checking the updated feed from his laptop.

“Seems that kiss will have to wait. Here, take this and go get changed,” Iori told him, handing him a neatly-folded black uniform trimmed with gold.

“Wait, you’re already done?” Inumuta asked incredulously.

“Besides Mankanshoku, arming the four of you would be the greatest boost to our forces. I would think that would be obvious.”

“But you finished mine first?”

“Yeah, so what?”

“I’m the weakest of the Four Elites. Logically you should’ve started with Sanageyama’s and completed mine last.”

“I don’t-”

“Shiro, denial is so unbecoming of you.” Inumuta smiled, a genuine soft smile in place of his usual know-it-all smirk, and now it was Iori’s turn to blush.

“Fine, so maybe I had a couple ideas for yours that I was anxious to get started on. Just go put it on already!”

But as he turned to go back to his sewing, Inumuta grabbed him by the wrist.

“Wait, before I go-”

And in one smooth motion, he pulled Iori in and placed a quick kiss to the green plastic of his visor.

“That’s just for now. Once Lady Satsuki ends this, you’ll be able to take off that mask for good. Then I’ll  _ really _ kiss you.”

“I’m holding you to that.” Iori told him. “Also, tell the other three to get their asses down here. Just one model, stunning as he is, does not a fashion show make.”

And with that, Inumuta headed above deck to don his three stars for the last time, while Iori went back to completing his final Goku Uniforms. Back to their roles, but not for much longer.

* * *

Hundreds of people stood stark naked in a wrecked arena under the dawn of a new day. Though in a normal world this might have caused a vast amount of discomfort, after everything they had just been through, they were all happy to simply be alive with naught but their clothing scathed.

“Shiro, I still have one more question for you about your uniform.” Inumuta spoke up, shielding his eyes from the bright morning sun.

“Only one? I would’ve figured you’d have a whole gauntlet of inquiries for me.” Iori replied with a half smile.

“Well, I did, but it hardly matters now, does it?”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that. We’ve won today, but the Life Fibers on Earth weren’t the only ones in the universe. It would certainly behoove us to continue our research, in case they were to return in the future…” Iori shook his head, “Sorry, but you had a question?”

“Do you remember that five star uniform test that went awry? When you said it was lucky that a three star like me was around?”

Iori smiled.

“Yes, I remember that. What can I say? It was entertaining to play the damsel in distress when I could easily have handled the situation myself. And don’t even try to deny you enjoyed being swooned over.”

“Yes, I think now I understand what you meant earlier about knowing someone had his eyes on me… speaking of which, I still owe you that-”

Before he could even finish his sentence, Iori had raised himself up on tiptoe to press his lips to Inumuta’s own. The kiss was rather chaste, and didn’t last very long, but even so, it felt to both men as though an invisible barrier had finally been broken. And when they came apart, they saw their own contented expression mirrored in the other’s soft eyes.

And then the rest of the world came crashing back in.

“GET A ROOM YOU TWO!” Sanageyama hollered at the top of his lungs from a mere two feet away, before cracking up along with Nonon at their startled expressions.

“I suppose this was another secret you shared with them before me?” Inumuta asked exasperatedly.

“No,  _ this _ they managed to figure out on their own.” Iori sighed.

“Oh come  _ on _ , you two nerds couldn’t have  _ been _ more obvious!” Nonon pulled a face. “Making eyes at each other all the time, seriously, gag me. Also, the whole ‘confessing after saving the world’ thing?  _ So  _ cliché.”

“You’re one to talk, you know,” Iori replied with a smirk, his eyes pointedly darting to Satsuki before looking back at her. “Are you sure you don’t have a cliché confession of your own to give?”

“ _ Cram a sock in it, four eyes! _ ” she hissed back, turning pink.

“There  _ does _ seem to be quite a bit of that going around, though,” Gamagoori said thoughtfully, watching as Hakodate of the Tennis Club confessed to Fukuroda of the Boxing Club and, nearby, the Gardening Club Presidents Yaguruma and Uwabami shared a kiss of their own.

“Ryuko-chan, we can’t let them all upstage us!” Mankanshoku shouted, jumping and latching onto Matoi and peppering her face with kisses, causing them both to fall over, and no one could help but to laugh at that. It’s only the third time Inumuta has witnessed Iori laugh, but the very first time he’s actually truly  _ listened _ to it, and he immediately decides it’s the most wonderful sound he’s ever heard. He would lament his recording devices being swallowed up by Matoi’s Kamui along with the rest of his uniform, if he wasn’t certain that he would always remember this moment.

“Hey Shiro, since you enjoy being the princess in the tower so much, will you call me your pixel prince?” Inumuta joked, looking back at Iori with a wry smile.

“Oh no, that’s  _ far _ too cheesy,” Iori replied, slipping his hand into Inumuta’s, their fingers lacing together as though they were always meant to be there. “But maybe I’d think it.”

**Author's Note:**

> theres nothing indicating the two gardening club presidents are related despite their similar character designs so i decided that they are gay together. their buck teeth slot together perfectly thats true romance FJGKJFGF  
> also the last part was based on one time when i had a DREAM shihou confessed after the final battle, and then started imagining all the students running around confessing to each other... and then realized theyd all be naked while it happened LMAO
> 
> so i actually have somthing. big planned for next year. which will probably actually take me that long to write anyway becus i SUCK at longfics. but hopefully i will actually be able to make it happen so!! look forward to it!!! see you next year :D
> 
> EDIT 10/25/20: also this year since i finished my fic much sooner i had the time to make a little video edit for The Boys as well: please enjoy [shihou shape of you AMV.mov](https://twitter.com/KILLIaKILL/status/1320485067056009217?s=20)


End file.
